Blade Dancer

by S. L. Viehl

  the other six ClanChildren of Honor. I bring them with joy.”

  I could feel my mother smiling inside my head. Bring them with joy, with my joy.

  “The ClanChildren of Honor?” Danea pushed herself to her feet and took an aggressive stance. Her light

  hair ballooned around her dark face. “You babble nonsense. There is no such House.”

  “Please, Speak on,” Nalek said, now looking very intent.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, then Spoke for my mother. ” ‘I vowed to bring the truth to you six, but I

  am in exile, and it is not my path to return to Joren. Thus I have given Jory the task and made her vow to

  Speak in my place.

  ” ‘Twenty-six revolutions past, there was an attack on a Jorenian vessel en route to the homeworld. A

  raider fleet captured the ship. Many paths were diverted. Seven Jorenian females were sold to slavers on

  different worlds. After some time, our HouseClans located and liberated the hostages.” I paused. This

  was the part they really weren’t going to like. “And our children by our slave owners.’ “

  Kol shook his head slowly. “No. No.”

  I was right: No one had ever told them the truth about their fathers—not even in confidence.

  I pushed on. ” ‘The Ruling Council could not hold the children responsible for the dishonor to their

  ClanMothers. Each HouseClan agreed to accept the seven, and vowed to regard them as if born from

  bond.’ ” Which hadn’t happened, from what I’d seen. So much for keeping those solemn vows.

  Osrea’s tongue flickered rapidly. “Impossible. My ClanMother would not endure life as a slave.”

  ” ‘As was tradition before the path of Tarek Varena, the seven of us were Chosen upon our return to the

  homeworld. Six children were brought to their native HouseClans. I, Kalea, was in the last stages of

  pregnancy upon my rescue. I refused to honor the Choice made for me.’ ” Thank God. ” ‘My sentence

  was repudiation and banishment. The records of our ordeal were destroyed, and each HouseClan swore

  an oath never to seek the honor of ClanKill against the slavers, or even to speak of what had occurred

  among us.’ “

  “Our ClanFathers were not slavers.” Danea made a low, growling sound in her throat, and her claws

  emerged. The air around her started to glow with a weird yellow light. “You lie.”

  ” ‘I charge my child with my last request: Seek out the other six ClanChildren of Honor. Make known to

  them the dishonor inflicted upon their ClanMothers, so that they may choose their path. Farewell and safe

  journey. I embrace the stars.’ “

  Nalek pushed me out of the way as Danea sprang. She came up short, as though surprised by what he’d

  done. Then she started after me again.

  “I shield this one,” Nal insisted, but she tried to go around him. He ended up wrestling the yellow-haired

  girl to the floor of the cave. “Cease this assault, ClanSister!”

  The interesting thing was what was not happening. The one and only time I’d accidentally touched

  Danea, I’d gotten a mild jolt, the same kind I’d have received as a penalty for an illegal block during a

  game. She hadn’t gone into detail after Renor had helped me off the ground, but I gathered her dad’s

  species produced a natural bioelectrical charge. After that meeting, I started wearing my insulating

  thermals again. Only now Nalek had her pinned on her back, and wasn’t getting any sort of a charge at

  all.

  “Do not claim me kin, Houseless son of a Hsktskt!” Danea yelled. “Release your shield so I may gut this

  deceiver!”

  I didn’t need the big guy protecting me. “Let her go, Nalek. I can take her.” I hoped. My thermals would

  absorb a fairly serious jolt, but not more than two or three of them in a row.

  “I will cook you where you stand!” Danea pushed Nalek off with a nice move and got back up on her

  feet.

  “Yeah, but the truth hurts more.” I assumed a defensive stance. “Come on. Come and get me, Sparky.”

  “Danea.” Renor finally stepped forward and removed his hood. The sight of his glittering face made

  everyone gasp. “No path will be diverted on this day.”

  Over Nalek’s shoulder, I saw Kol. He couldn’t move his eyes from the crystalline facets of Renor’s face.

  I couldn’t blame him. It was as if Ren’s entire head had been encased in plas, then hewn to vaguely

  resemble a Jorenian. His eyes were not white or offworlder, but thin, horizontal black slits.

  “She lies!” In spite of her tone, Danea edged back against one wall. Was she afraid of Renor?

  Nalek helped me to my feet, and I dusted myself off. “I do not lie, ClanSister.” Tired of sputtering

  through their lingo, I groped for my wristcom, slipped it on, and activated it. “Look, we were all sired

  outside bond, by men who were slavers. Or rapists. Take your pick.”

  “You said we had to come together, that what you would tell us would change our lives.” Renor’s voice

  matched his outside—hard and cold. “This was what you meant by that?”

  “Your own families never cared enough to go after the slavers who did this, or even tell you the truth so

  you could,” I said. “And what did they tell you? That your fathers were alien tourists or visiting scientists?

  How did they explain the fact that they weren’t around anymore?” I watched their faces, saw their eyes

  shift.

  Kol rubbed a hand over his face. “Perhaps they meant to protect us.”

  I snorted. “Right. More likely they wanted to hide you, like a really ugly dog no one has the heart to put

  down.”

  “What is a dog?” Os wanted to know.

  “A domesticated animal on Terra. People keep them as pets. Most dogs only need regular feeding and a

  pat on the head now and then to stay happy.” I met Kol’s gaze. “The unhappy ones get chained in the

  yard.”

  “We may not be the most honored of our Houses,” Nalek admitted, “but our kin swore to protect us.

  That does mean something, Jory.”

  “Well, my mother didn’t take their stupid oath, and she thought it was really important that you know the

  truth. Now you know.” I spread my hands. “That’s it. I’m done, and I’m leaving now.”

  “You have another agenda. You are Terran.” Danea turned her head and glared at Renor, then moved

  forward away from the wall. “Your kind are hostile bigots who care nothing for Joren or us.”

  “What is it with you people?” I yelled. “I come here to do the decent thing and keep a promise to my

  dead mother and you think I’m out to swindle you!”

  More yellow hair spiked. “Are you not? Your people hold offworlders in utter contempt.”

  “And your people are so wonderful?” I swept a hand around the room. “Nalek, did anyone ever offer to

  let you build a ship instead of killing yourself hauling the materials to and from the dock?”

  His heavy jaw sagged, then locked. “No one knows.”

  “I knew from the moment I saw all those vessel designs and drawings you put up in your quarters. They

  were gorgeous.” I rolled my eyes. “So why aren’t you building them? Are the Zamlon all blind?”

  Nalek glanced down at himself. “My physical form is more suitable to manual labor than craft design.”

  “What about your brain? Why doesn’t that count?” I went to Galena. “Birdie, who’s been plucking your

  feathers all these years?”

  Galena studied her footgear. “My ClanMother wanted my appearance to be similar to that of my
r />   ClanSiblings.”

  “I’m surprised she didn’t have the wings amputated while she was at it. And Os—before you made that

  dugout in the ground, where did your family have you living?” He started to say something, then hissed.

  “It’s okay; your ClanCousin told me. In a shack, as far away from the HouseClan pavilion as they could

  stick you, practically in the middle of their t’lerue herd. Keeping you there made the buyers from the

  other provinces a little less nervous, he said.”

  “They think I am part Hsktskt.” Os’s sneer became a painful grimace. “I am not, you know.”

  “I know. They know—but they didn’t bother to tell anyone else that, did they? They just stuck you out

  there with the cows.” I turned to Danea, whose face had darkened to a beautiful shade of royal violet.

  “Sparky, what did they do to you and Renor?”

  She bared her pointed teeth. “Call me that name again and you die.”

  “Okay, we’ll skip you.” I turned to Kol. “But not you. How many times have you applied to join planetary

  militia? How many times have they rejected you and taken someone else from your HouseClan?

  Someone younger? Someone you could stomp into smithereens in the warrior’s quad?”

  “Five times,” he said, staring back at me through hot white eyes. “I stopped applying after the fifth

  dismissal. How did you know?”

  “One of the Torin mentioned it, along with what a shame it was that you weren’t allowed to serve the

  Varena. Too bad they didn’t back up their regret with action.” I gazed at the other resentful faces. “The

  only thing you’re guilty of is being born, and yet you all act like you deserve this kind of treatment. No

  questions, no confrontations, you simply shut up and take it.” I rubbed my temples. “Hey, that’s your

  choice. I’ve kept my promise to my mother, and now I’m out of here.”

  Galena’s thin hand briefly touched my arm. “Where will you go, Sajora?”

  “Oh, I’m going to do what the HouseClans should have done twenty-five years ago. I’m going to find the

  raider who kidnapped and sold our mothers, and I’m going to kill him.”

  “Declare ClanKill,” Nalek corrected me.

  “Whatever. You guys can do whatever you want, but don’t kid yourselves—these people hate you. They

  will always hate you.”

  They all stared at each other, then me. Even after everything that I’d just told them, they acted as if that

  were another stunner.

  “Surely we are not hated. Surely… not that.” Galena put a slim hand to her throat. “This dishonor was

  none of our doing.”

  “One look at you, Birdie, and they remember how you were conceived. You know what this human

  asshole told me before I was deported from Terra? ‘Alien blood always shows through.’ ” I took a deep

  breath. “They see you as the sons and daughters of slave owners. They can’t help it, not with the way you

  all resemble your sires. Oh, they’ll protect you, and feed you, and if you’re lucky, they won’t chain you in

  the yard. But to your kin you are walking, talking reminders of a crime that went unpunished.”

  “Perhaps you are right, Terran, in what you do.” Danea paced a short distance around me. “If we go and

  avenge the dishonor done to our ClanMothers, then our people, our HouseClans will have to accept us.”

  Now it was my turn to gape for a moment. “Ah, no. This is ray business. I don’t need any help. I don’t

  want any help. Especially from you.”

  “Obviously you do not.” She turned to the others. “Yet it is apparent that we are in need of yours.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Lead not for glory, but so that others may find your path.”

  —Tarek Varena, ClanJoren

  Namadar had been over for nearly a week when Uzlac finally got clearance to leave Joren. By that time

  I’d handed over to him all the credits I had left. I’d also worn out my welcome in Marine Province.

  HouseClan security officers had questioned me twice, and both times I’d pretended not to know where

  Galena or the others were.

  Security didn’t pretend to believe me the second time.

  “Galena’s ClanMother has shielded you against the rest of the Nerea,” one of them told me. “All she

  wishes is her ClanDaughter’s safe return.”

  I studied a spot of mud on my boot. “I’ll pass the message along if I see her.”

  The officer frowned. “You risk much by interfering in matters of privacy, Terran. We can always detain

  you for further questioning.”

  “True.” Time to bluff. “And if you do, I’ve instructed my legal counsel to release a full statement regarding

  the MoonWave incident and everything I know about the ClanChildren of Honor.” I tsked. “Some very

  volatile stuff.” Actually, nobody would care—except the Jorenians.

  “Such statements can be suppressed.”

  “On Joren, sure. Everywhere else in the quadrant? Not a chance. Still”—I lifted a shoulder—“if you guys

  don’t care about that kind of exposure, toss me in a cell. Who’s really going to care about an old scandal

  like this, anyway?”

  They released me and a few hours later the Ruling Council sent me a politely worded request that

  basically meant, Get off our planet.

  Which was why Uzlac got permission to depart, of course.

  My first and only stop on the way to Uzlac’s star shuttle was Kol’s place. His ClanMother, Qelta,

  greeted me at the door panel with the customary disapproving glare.

  “Hi.” I leaned an arm against the interior panel frame so she wouldn’t key the door to shut. I hoped. “Can

  Kol come out and play?”

  Her mouth crimped. “He is resting.”

  “I’ll wake him up.” I pushed past her and headed back to his chamber.

  Kol was folding his garments and stacking them next to a couple of open cases, I saw as I stepped in

  through his door panel. “You ready to do this?”

  “No.” He went on packing.

  None of them were; I knew that. The whole group had argued about it for hours before leaving the

  caves. I hadn’t been thrilled by the idea of having six partners. And they hadn’t taken much to my idea of

  traveling to Reytalon for training first.

  “The seven of us, become blade dancers?” Osrea laughed so hard he ended up on the stone floor,

  clutching himself with all four arms.

  “It is not possible.” Nalek didn’t laugh. “I am not sure I could kill anyone, even with such an education.”

  Danea could, and I had the feeling she put my name on the top of her after-graduation list. She glowered

  at me. “They will not accept us. We have no funds, no references.”

  I told her what the dancer had told me.

  Kol didn’t like that. “I will not be a mercenary for hire.”

  “It’s an option, Kol. Not an obligation.”

  Galena reached over her shoulder and plucked at the top of one winglet. “Will they expect me to fly?” I

  pointed out that she had no feathers. “If they grow back, will they expect me to fly then?”

  Even Renor, who hardly said a word about anything else, had to be a pain about it. “What if we kill

  another student?”

  I threw up my hands. “It’s a place that teaches killing, Ren. I’m pretty sure they’re prepared for that.”

  My thoughts snapped back to the present when Qelta appeared in the open doorway of Kol’s room like

  a nosy chaperon. Her suspicious gaze zeroed in on his case. “You plan to take
a journey, Kol?” The

  words and gesture were polite, but her tone said, Not with her, you’re not.

  “Yes, ClanMother.” He removed one last stack of garments from his storage unit and handed them to

  me. Knowing our time was short, I dumped them on his sleeping platform and started shoving them into a

  case. “My thanks, but I will do it.” He folded each garment carefully before placing it in his open case.

  Brother, was he finicky.

  His ClanMother’s voice became forcefully cheerful. “Where say you journey, my ClanSon? Piran

  Province, to celebrate your ClanCousin Tborna’s bond? Your ClanFather and I would travel with you—”

  “We leave Joren.”

  Stunned, Qelta gasped and pressed a hand to her breast. At the same time, if looks were lethal, I’d have

  been on the floor bleeding from every opening.

  She found her voice. “You must not. You cannot. You are too young.”

  Kol secured the case latches. “I am of majority age.”